BIRTHDAY

The day or anniversary of one’s birth; in Hebrew, yohm hul·le′dheth (Ge 40:20)
and in Greek, ge·ne′si·a (Mt 14:6; Mr 6:21).
The Hebrews kept records of the year one was born, as the Bible’s genealogical and chronological data reveal. (Nu 1:2, 3; Jos
14:10; 2Ch 31:16, 17) The ages of Levites, priests, and kings were not left to guesswork. (Nu 4:3; 8:23-25; 2Ki 11:21; 15:2;
18:2) This was also true in the case of Jesus.—Lu 2:21, 22, 42; 3:23.

According to the Scriptures, the day the baby was born was usually one of
rejoicing and thanksgiving on the part of the parents, and rightly so, for “look! Sons
are an inheritance from Jehovah; the fruitage of the belly is a reward.” (Ps 127:3;
Jer 20:15; Lu 1:57, 58) However, there is no indication in the Scriptures that faithful
worshipers of Jehovah ever indulged in the pagan practice of annually celebrating
birthdays.
The Bible makes direct reference to only two birthday celebrations, those of
Pharaoh of Egypt (18th century B.C.E.) and Herod Antipas (1st century C.E.).
These two accounts are similar in that both occasions were marked with great
feasting and granting of favors; both are remembered for executions, the hanging of
Pharaoh’s chief baker in the first instance, the beheading of John the Baptizer in the
latter.—Ge 40:18-22; 41:13; Mt 14:6-11; Mr 6:21-28.
While the expression “on the day of our king,” at Hosea 7:5, may possibly
indicate a birthday party for the apostate king of Israel when the princes “sickened
themselves . . . because of wine,” it could as easily be the anniversary day of his
accession to the throne when similar festivities were held.
When Job’s sons “held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day” it
should not be supposed that they were celebrating their birthdays. (Job 1:4) “Day” in
this verse translates the Hebrew word yohm and refers to a period of time from
sunrise to sunset. On the other hand, “birthday” is a compound of the two Hebrew
words yohm (day) and hul·le′dheth. The distinction between “day” and one’s
birthday may be noted in Genesis 40:20, where both expressions appear: “Now on
the third day [yohm] it turned out to be Pharaoh’s birthday [literally, “the day (yohm)
of the birth (hul·le′dheth) of Pharaoh”].” So it is certain that Job 1:4 does not refer to
a birthday, as is unquestionably the case at Genesis 40:20. It would seem that Job’s
seven sons held a family gathering (possibly a spring or harvest festival) and as the
feasting made the week-long circuit, each son hosted the banquet in his own house
“on his own day.”
With the introduction of Christianity the viewpoint toward birthday celebrations
did not change. Jesus inaugurated a binding Memorial, not of his birth, but of his
death, saying: “Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” (Lu 22:19) If early
Christians did not celebrate or memorialize the birthday of their Savior, much less
would they celebrate their own day of birth. Historian Augustus Neander writes:
“The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this
period.” (The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First
Centuries, translated by H. J. Rose, 1848, p. 190) “Origen [a writer of the third
century C.E.] . . . insists that ‘of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is
recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only
sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which
they were born into this world below.’”—The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, Vol. X, p.
709.
Clearly, then, the festive celebration of birthdays does not find its origin in either
the Hebrew or the Greek Scriptures. Additionally, M’Clintock and Strong’s
Cyclopaedia (1882, Vol. I, p. 817) says the Jews “regarded birthday celebrations as
parts of idolatrous worship . . . , and this probably on account of the idolatrous rites
with which they were observed in honor of those who were regarded as the patron
gods of the day on which the party was born.”